This project shows you how to build a Modular Test
Vehicle (MTV) that can be easily reconfigured (changed) to use different
wheel types, chassis layouts, and gear ratios. You can use this
project to easily experiment with how different configurations affect
the driving, turning, load carrying ability, accuracy, and consistency of the vehicle.

"Modular" means that the design is split into five chunks
that can be built separately: the Frame, the Drive Wheels, rolling
Straight Wheels (with or without tires), a Castor Wheel, and a Payload
Basket. These modules can then be snapped together in seconds to
form a complete vehicle that you can test. Then you can quickly
reconfigure it to make a change and test it again to see if it drives any more accurately,
turns better, etc. You can use what you learn from these
experiments to help you design your own robot that performs the way you
want it to.

There are literally hundreds of possible ways to
combine the modules into a complete vehicle. Some examples are
shown below. Each of these vehicles can be built in under one
minute by snapping the modules together.

The Drive Wheels module is also designed to allow you to easily change
the gears used, so that you can experiment with different gear
combinations to see how they affect the performance of your robot: